Watch out for buzzards

A friend was riding his ST1300 on a two lane asphalt road in middle Georgia a couple a weeks ago. He noticed buzzards feeding on road kill. The buzzards were on the shoulder in his direction of travel. He veered left, as he passed one flew up and hit his windshield then helmet. He ran off the left side of the road into a ditch. He thought he could ride it out and was careful not to apply too much brake. Unfortunaly, he hit a culvert. He has a fracured femur, hip and collar bone.

Yesterday, I hit and killed a buzzard with my car when it flew up from the shoulder. Learn from others and watch out for the unpredictable buzzard.

Ouch... I'm trying to work-out a trip to visit some friends in S. Florida, then on to my brother's place in N. Georgia. Hopefully the dumb birds will wise-up to vehicle traffic by mid September.

Those buzzards never do wise up. It's best on the back roads to watch the ditches and shoulders for them.

I hope the rider heals up well to ride again.

We've got a lot of them around where I live. They do a great job cleaning up the roadkill, and I've never even come close to hitting one with either the bike or car. Maybe the west coast buzzards (ours are called vultures, but I think they're the same type of bird) are more 'street savvy'.

Ours are called Turkey Buzzards and actually have to be licensed with the FAA and can't fly without a tail number...

I seem to him them with every bike I have, I even have a cartoon I got out of it.. can't find it at the moment...

Hope your friend heals up quickly, sucks for one of those disgusting birds to be the cause of an accident.

We have a similar problem in this area with wild turkeys.

Seen two buzzard strikes with cars here in Central Texas. On one of the strikes the buzzard's head penetrated the plastic bumper and the bird was hanging from the bumper; that beak is sharp! The driver was trying to remove it with a towel but was having trouble overcoming the revulsion of touching it. LOL

My helmet actually scraped a buzzard's wing, sounded like fingernails on a blackboard. Luck that was all that happened. I slow down now and blow the horn before I get to a buzzard feeding.

Good reminder. :yes:

I've ducked a few over the years...glad that was the extend of my experience.

know people who have hit smaller birds and had issues handling. even smaller birds can be hazardous, think "mass" (bird weight) times "velocity" (your speed + bird closing speed) = "force" (impact)

cruise_carter said:

know people who have hit smaller birds and had issues handling. even smaller birds can be hazardous, think "mass" (bird weight) times "velocity" (your speed + bird closing speed) = "force" (impact)

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Absolutely...
Bird-strikes are to be taken as serious threats...
A stupid pheasant could snap your neck, something at the size of a sparrow or swallow easily shatter your visor... over the years I ducked (what a word ;-) ) a number of times for "pterodactyls"... crows feed on carrion/road-kills and are really reluctant (or just too stupid) to leave their prey over an approaching vehicle honking at them...
And even if they only hit engine/radiator... the stench alone... yuck...

ST1100Y said:

Absolutely...
Bird-strikes are to be taken as serious threats...
A stupid pheasant could snap your neck, something at the size of a sparrow or swallow easily shatter your visor... over the years I ducked (what a word ;-) ) a number of times for "pterodactyls"... crows feed on carrion/road-kills and are really reluctant (or just too stupid) to leave their prey over an approaching vehicle honking at them...
And even if they only hit engine/radiator... the stench alone... yuck...

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+1! Some thirty yrs. ago, a sparrow caught me bout ankle high while feet on road pegs of my other listed ride.......while wearing tennis shoes. Lesson learned, and a really sore ankle for several days.

Around here they're called turkey buzzards, and are slow to take off from roadkill....but not as slow as eagles...if you ever see eagles on road kill....stop your scooter.......crows on the other hand, at least around here, you'll never hit....they're pretty damn smart.........ride safe, ff

Hit a buzzard with my commuter car about 6 years ago... when I rolled over him, it felt like a concrete block rolling under the car. They are tough lean birds... certainly would hate to hit one while riding. A turkey would be worse... more mass.

Mellow said:

them with every bike I have

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And even when Joe misses them they come back for another run at him!

A friend was approaching the mountains late at night and still has the helmet ( on display in the garage) with the scratch marks from an owl. It was cool that night so he was tucked down, otherwise the owl would have got him in the neck.


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They really do hate to give up their roadside snack. I have had them drop their lunch on my vehicle after taking flight. Not a pleasant sight. I'm just glad it wasn't while I was riding on the bike.

I had one leave it's snack and fly straight up and land in a tree.It then immediately dropped down on me impacting my windscreen and helmet,I tucked down and avoided injury yet it's wing was broken. 2 riders behind me narrowly missed it. When I see them now I immediately slow down and approach with caution blasting with my stebel.

My wife and I almost hit one of the turkey buzzards on a country road a few years ago. I just ducked and he missed me by a few inches. I would hate to hit one, they are big and heavy and ugly. Not that ugly would hurt.

People living on lakeside properties in FL (perhaps elsewhere, I live in FL so there) sometimes have problems with turkey buzzards invading the property structures when the houses are not occupied. They will actually tear into screened rooms and eat cloth and naugahyde coverings on deck or patio furniture. The buzzard is protected as a migratory bird and the property owners can't shoot or poison the critters. I've seen this happen a couple of times.

dduelin said:

People living on lakeside properties in FL (perhaps elsewhere, I live in FL so there) sometimes have problems with turkey buzzards invading the property structures when the houses are not occupied. They will actually tear into screened rooms and eat cloth and naugahyde coverings on deck or patio furniture. The buzzard is protected as a migratory bird and the property owners can't shoot or poison the critters. I've seen this happen a couple of times.

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Yeah, they migrate to Florida and stay!! [emoji6]
But seriously, these things are protected? I didn't know that.


Bill F
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